{"id":901828,"date":"2023-11-07T15:42:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-07T22:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=901828"},"modified":"2023-11-07T15:42:00","modified_gmt":"2023-11-07T22:42:00","slug":"who-has-mechanics-lien-rights-in-the-district-of-columbia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/who-has-mechanics-lien-rights-in-the-district-of-columbia\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Has Mechanic\u2019s Lien\u00a0Rights\u00a0in the District of Columbia?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Kenneth G. Stallard and Andrew Stewart | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lexology.com\/library\/detail.aspx?g=2c3eff6e-d79f-4537-b761-1b3b59803bc7&amp;utm_source=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed&amp;utm_medium=HTML+email+-+Body+-+General+section&amp;utm_campaign=Lexology+subscriber+daily+feed&amp;utm_content=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed+2023-11-02&amp;utm_term=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Carr Maloney<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the District of Columbia, every building erected, improved, added to, or repaired at the direction of the owner or the owner\u2019s agent, including the land on which the improvement is erected, is subject to a lien in favor of the contractor who contracted with the owner or with the owner\u2019s agent in the amount of the contract price or, in the absence of an express contract, the reasonable value of the project.\u00a0<em>See<\/em>\u00a0D.C. Code \u00a7 40-301.01. The District of Columbia\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/mechanics-lien-law-complex-landscape\/\">Mechanic\u2019s Lien statute<\/a> defines \u201cOwner\u201d to include owners in fee simple, lessees, and even prospective purchasers in possession under a contract of sale authorized to contract for a project. The statute also provides lien rights to any person directly employed by the general contractor to furnish work or materials for the completion of the project, such as subcontractors, materialmen (suppliers), and laborers.\u00a0<em>See\u00a0<\/em>D.C. Code \u00a7 40-303.01. It is a company\u2019s status on a particular project (i.e., whether it is a general contractor, subcontractor, supplier, or sub-subcontractor) that determines whether it may claim statutory Mechanic\u2019s Lien rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The District of Columbia Mechanic\u2019s Lien statute (D.C. Code \u00a7 40-301.01,&nbsp;<em>et seq.<\/em>) recognizes that those who do work on real property but are not compensated pursuant to the terms of their contract, are creditors and are entitled to a lien to ensure they get paid.&nbsp;<em>See<\/em>&nbsp;<em>King Carpentry, Inc. v. 1345 K Street SE, LLC<\/em>, 262 A.3d 1105, 1112 (D.C. 2021). The lien is statutorily created upon filing the required notice with the Recorder of Deeds of the District of Columbia and serving the lien claim notice on the property owner. D.C. Code \u00a7 40-303.03. Thereafter, a lienholder may enforce the lien by filing suit in equity (D.C. Code \u00a7 40-303.08), and if the lienholder prevails, the court will order the sale of the property and direct that the lienholder be paid from the proceeds. D.C. Code \u00a7 40-303.09.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>1.&nbsp;<em>The General Contractor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As noted above, D.C. Code \u00a7 40-301.01 provides that the contractor who contracts directly with the owner or with the owner\u2019s agent for erecting, improving, adding to, or repairing a building may claim a lien against the building and the land upon which the building sits, on completing the requirements set out in the statute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>2. Subcontractors, Materialmen, and Laborers<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The District of Columbia Mechanic\u2019s Lien statute provides that any person directly employed by the contractor described in D.C. Code \u00a7 40-303.01 (the original contractor or the \u201cGeneral Contractor\u201d), whether the person is a subcontractor, materialman, or laborer, to furnish work or materials for the completion of the project, has the same lien rights, and is subject to the same obligations for establishing and enforcing a lien, as the original contractor. A company that contracts directly with the General Contractor on a project, has Mechanic\u2019s Lien rights under the statute, provided it complies with all the statute\u2019s technical requirements for establishing and enforcing the lien. Interestingly, if both the General Contractor and a subcontractor file Mechanic\u2019s Liens, the subcontractor\u2019s lien must be satisfied before the General Contractor\u2019s lien. (<em>See&nbsp;<\/em>D.C. Code \u00a7 40-303.10 (subcontractor preferred to contractor)).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>3.&nbsp;<em>Sub-subcontractors<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A \u201csub-subcontractor\u201d is a company that enters an agreement with a subcontractor to provide labor or materials to the project. Because such \u201csecond-tier\u201d and other lower-tier subcontractors do not have a direct contract with either the owner, the owner\u2019s agent, or with the General Contractor, they do not come within the terms of either D.C. Code \u00a7 40-301.01 (General Contractors) or \u00a7 40-303.01 (Subcontractors), they do not have lien rights under the Mechanic\u2019s Lien statute.\u00a0<em>See Battista v. Horton, Myers &amp; Raymond<\/em>, 128 F.2d 29, 31 (D.C. Cir. 1942). An entity must have a\u00a0direct contract with the project owner, with the owner\u2019s agent, or with the General Contractor, in order to claim lien rights under the D.C. Mechanic\u2019s Lien statute. If an entity\u2019s agreement is with a subcontractor, that entity does not have lien rights under the statute. However, you may have other legal or equitable remedies to pursue for non-payment for the work performed or materials supplied on the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>When one of your cases is in need of a construction expert, estimates, insurance appraisal or umpire services in defect or insurance disputes &#8211; please call Advise &amp; Consult, Inc. at 888.684.8305, or email <a href=\"mailto:experts@adviseandconsult.net\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">experts@adviseandconsult.net<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kenneth G. Stallard and Andrew Stewart | Carr Maloney In the District of Columbia, every building erected, improved, added to, or repaired at the direction of the owner or the owner\u2019s agent, including the land on which the improvement is erected, is subject to a lien in favor of the contractor who contracted with the&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/who-has-mechanics-lien-rights-in-the-district-of-columbia\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Who Has Mechanic\u2019s Lien\u00a0Rights\u00a0in the District of Columbia?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-901828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-2","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Who Has Mechanic\u2019s Lien\u00a0Rights\u00a0in the District of Columbia? 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